RobertS975

I am bound to Verizon and I really need an upgrade to a smartphone/world capable device... the soon to be released BB Tour fits the bill but does not have wifi, whereas the HTC Touch apparently will have it, although its VZN availability is an open question.

So just how important is wifi in a cell phone? I sure can't think of any negatives, but what would I be missing if I didn't wait for a wifi enabled phone?

LTN Phobia

I only use it to save me checking for WiFi availability on my laptop.

CPRich

I have WiFi on my Touch Pro. I think I turned it on once to configure it for my home network and make sure it worked. It's been off ever since.

Gaucho100K

Wirelessly posted (Nokia N97: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)

I think its very useful... like for quick email check and FT posting...

ctuttle

In my opinion WiFi on a cell phone is huge. I have a Blackberry and probably use the WiFi more than the data from the cellphone carrier. My carrier, T-Mobile also routes phone calls through WiFi so when you are out of the country there is no roaming charges.

Depends on your carrier, what you do on the phone, and your browsing and traveling habits, but for me, I use WiFi quite a bit both at home and at hotels even though I have an unlimited data plan with my cell provider.

As far as I'm concerned WiFi should be on all phones as it doesn't add much to the cost and offers a huge advantage.

GoingAway

Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.114 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

If you use the browser, wifi is great - better response and less dependence on the providers network

Leumas

Wifi is very important to me. My carrier charges an arm and a leg for data, so having wifi can go around that. This is particularly true when roaming.

mvtm

For me WiFi is a must. Unlike the previous posters i do tons of web browsing through my iPhone's WiFi. Whenever i am on college or at home i always have WiFi connection available and has been really handy. I don't have to pay any extra, unlike Edge and it's much faster.

Bear in mind that i don't live on the states...
but,even when i am traveling it has come really handy with Skype calls over my phone. I love it.

CateyBeth

Wifi is a HUGE asset for me. I travel internationally at least once or twice each quarter, but my service is on Sprint. Their data service in the US is the best, but in the rest of the world they're almost nonexistent. Wifi on my Palm Pro coupled with a Boingo Mobile account keep me connected worldwide with no huge roaming charges.

Upstate

I use a N810 internet tablet and just its not easy to just scoot around the web like on my laptop. I can get what I need, but then I just put it down because I don't like squinting and typing with my thumbs. For me wifi and data would be redundant because a data plan would take care of my limited web usage.

beckoa

I got my BB Bold about 2 months ago and was planning on not using the data at all... Then I found that FT at work was too much fun, and they did not have an open wifi source

Combine that with AT&T finally getting 3G in the ANC area... and I am a happy clam (excluding the bill of course) but its quite zippy (and I think faster then the DSL @ home )

I've done this more then once looking for a free connection for my friend's laptop

Dubai Stu

There is a link to an article over at dslreports.com about how Sprint is going to require all new smart phones (after the Tour) to have WiFi. This includes the Tour II do out early next year.

I find wifi very important. As smart phones get more media rich, we will start butting our head up against the 5 gig threshold. If you move your home and office internet usage to wifi, this will greatly reduce the burden.

Wifi also provides good backup coverage where you have poor cell coverage. Contrary to Verizon's advertising, there are many places that don't have good coverage around the U.S.

Wifi reduces your international data roaming bills (and possibly your voice roaming as well). In addition to this, international roaming is not perfect. Earlier this year, my wife couldn't get roaming coverage working for seven days with TMobile. What would have been a disaster became only a minor incident because she had wifi in the hotel room (courtesy of a Linksys portable router) and at the client site.

Besides Sprint and Verizon's bias against wifi, they have clearly had problems getting wifi into CDMA/GSM combination phones. With respect to the Storm, the Tour (compare it to the wifi enabled Curve 8900 and the Bold), and several other phones. If you travel internationally and want a global roaming plan, there are only a handful of non-Blackberry options. [But go look at the Apple forum at ATT's company run forum forum.wireless.att.com) where there is discussion of a little known corporate ("FAN") nearly worldwide unlimited iPhone plan]

Non-NonRev

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.2; U; Series60/3.1 NokiaE71-2/100.07.76; Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

I agree that Wi-Fi complements the paid data plan very nicely. I typically use the data option only where wi-fi is not available.

dtsm

I used a BB 8830 during the weekday, TMO is the provider and with their H@H plan, making UMA calls free from my bucket of minutes....so never ever exceed my monthly minutes.

On weekends, swap over to iPhone, with wifi and skype, pretty much call the world for free on my unlimited international plan, plus all sorts of other neat things.

Oh - gps on both units is much faster on wifi than edge. For newer phones, I say it's pretty much a must have feature....

soitgoes

I don't have a data plan, so I use only wifi on my cell phone. It's fantastic. I especially like the automatic podcast downloads...I always have something to listen to. I also use VoIP from my cell phone. When traveling internationally, it is invaluable.